Shards of glass in a broken mirror
by Ash Light
Summary: Anybodys life isn't all fighting with Jets. She has a problem...a problem only her true courage, her true self, and her true friends can stop.


Oh my word...I've only written the first chapter of this, and already I can tell it's gonna be the darkest thing I've ever written. Sooo...read and enjoy! I dunno whether to call this a T or a M...will call it a T for now, may change later.

Enjoy the A-Rab/Anybody-ness! And while your at it, read my other fics! (shameless, I know, but I've written HP ones!). And...if I get reviews, I may write another chapter!

Oh, I'm awful sometimes...

* * *

Anybodys sat, half crouched, half cowering, in the bathtub. It was empty, devoid of water….but waiting to be refilled slowly by blood. Riff would have called it 'her old man's new way to beat the water meter'.

She almost laughed. Snorted, in fact. Doubled up, half spluttering, arms clutched round a flat belly that hadn't been fed in days, choking to death on a joke that wasn't even funny.

The young teenager eventually wore herself out, still hacking back little giggles. She let her head rest uneasily on the taps. There was a painful twinge; and she gasped as another unwanted bruise twinged from the connection. Unconsciously, her hand crept up to the spot. Anybodys made an almost comical face. Pretty raw. It must have been from last night. The time she managed to slide from under the enormous pressure – then had her head whip-lashed on the cold kitchen tiles….

Anybodys found that, if she slid her gaunt legs far enough down the edge of the bath, and let her belly rise just a little, she could almost disappear completely from view. Then, when the front door opened, she could screw up her eyes, and there was a damn good chance that when He flicked a customary glance through the door, He might not even see she was there. She'd never disobey Him, but to disobey and to bend the rules slightly were different things altogether.

The door-bell rang, making her start. This in itself was an unusual thing, because nobody _wanted_ to visit them anymore. The important bills were not posted, like anyone else's, but thrust into His hand when they found Him at the nearest pub, which was often. Everyone _knew_ He spent most of His life there.

But no-one ever came to the door. Not since the last Rumble, where she'd flipping well proved her weight in gold by besting two of them Hawks, and Riff had even instructed A-Rab and Baby John to walk her home. True, they had walked three paces behind her, and had talked AT her, not TO her, but they still knew where she lived. Could it possibly be that….. Her heart leapt feebly for joy, then sank again. None of the Jets would be seen dead here. Not Action, although his own apartment was a hollow shell of a place, with blood spattered on one of the walls, and not A-Rab, whose own apartment was cluttered with a torrid mixture of beer bottles and junk, the smell of booze clogging the air. No, they wouldn't come _here_, of all places.

And then she heard the door creak open.

"Anybodys? You in here?"

She kept quiet. This was just her imagination. She couldn't _really_ hear A-Rab's voice calling from the kitchen. It would just defy the laws of logic.

"Anybodys? I _said_, are you in here? You deaf? Or are you out and whoring around as usual?"

Anybodys tried to choke back a sob, letting it burst out quietly. _Oh, if only you knew…_

"Well, if you're in here, just wanted to tell you, that _we know_."

Anybodys felt her whole body stiffen, going into defensive mode. How could they know? No-one knew. They didn't know. They couldn't. _How do they know, how do they know, how do they know, how…_

"Okay, you little thief? We know about those two knives you nicked from the bin, okay? So you'd better give 'em back sharpish, or I'm gonna carve you myself."

Anybodys almost collapsed with relief. They didn't know. Of course they didn't! Just some stupid thing about the two knives she'd filched. They had no idea.

The fear left her. And with it, left a sigh.

A-Rab's ears could pick it up immediately, "Anybodys? Okay, where are you, you little bitch? I ain't gonna go down to the _humiliation_," He flaunted this word smugly, to an uneducated Anybodys who'd never gone to school, "Of goin' down to your level and looking for ya. Either you come out or I'm goin' straight away, and when I catch up with you again, I'm gonna get you good and proper."

She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. There was no point in hiding. A-Rab was a boy of his word, of sorts, and the next time he found her, she'd be due a good pummelling, no matter what Tony said about beating up girls.

"I'm in the bathroom," She called, in a high, piping voice. " 'S on your left."

There was a brief bout of swearing as A-Rab made his way through all the junk lying around the floor, and then a golden-curly hair topped head appeared round the door.

"Hey Anybodys…I know it seems kinda old fashioned, but most people prefer to take their clothes _off_ when they have a bath."

Anybodys shrugged. It was better than informing him that the only bath she had was a regular sweat-and-blood bath.

He stood on his toes and looked at her, "And they have a funny, slightly radical tradition here – they usually put water _into_ the bath. A very eccentric idea, I know, but it might interest you."

"Are you finished yet?" Anybodys demanded.

A-Rab put his head to one side, pretending to think about it, "Hmmm…..no. Where's them knives, you little thief?"

Anybodys chewed on her lip. She really needed those knives, "I don't have 'em."

"Liar."

"It's true, I don't have 'em!"

A-Rab snorted derisively, "Yeah, I don't think. Come on kid, hand them over."

Anybodys leant further down in the bath, "I'm tellin' ya the truth, I don't have them bloody knives! That buddy boy jailbait of yours must've lost 'em."

A-Rab leant down and shoved her, "Quit tryin' to pin the blame on Baby John. We know it was you."

Anybodys began to shake, "I don't have 'em, I swear I don't have 'em!" To her horror, she began to cry, "I ain't lyin'!"

A-Rab frowned. He enjoyed taunting Anybodys, who didn't, but her starting to cry was a different matter entirely, "Look here kid….."

"I need 'em A-Rab!" Anybodys shrieked hysterically, screwing up her eyes tightly, "I need to keep 'em, I do! An' Riff would understand, and Tony! I need 'em truly! Can't you see that?"

A-Rab bit his lip and patted her shoulder awkwardly, "Umm…calm down, will ya?"

"I c-can't!" Anybodys burst out, burying her head is her hands and sobbing.

A-Rab sat down by the bath and hugged his knees to his chest. Anybodys didn't let anything get to her – more likely she would get to _it_. And she never cried, not even when she fell down those four sets of stairs when she was six, "Aw, c'mon Anybodys….."

Anybodys looked up and glared at him, some wild, feral look in her eye, "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Gee, I only…."

"I'm _not_! I'm _not_ anybody's! I'm not no-one's and I ain't anyone's. I ain't yours and I certainly ain't _His_!" She stopped abruptly.

A-Rab stood up angrily, "Ain't _whose_?" He demanded. Teasing the kid was one thing, but fooling around with the chick was another, and from the looks of things it seemed that someone had been screwing around with this kid pretty damn bad, "_Anybodys_, watcha talkin' about?"

Anybodys slid further down into the bath, slim, freckled arms moulding into the cool shape, "I wasn't sayin' nothing," She muttered, "Just….going off my head."

"You're goin' _out_ of your head if you're lettin' someone mess around with ya," A-Rab retorted, glaring down at her, "Anybodys, what're you playing at?"

"Nothin', nothin', nothin', nothin'!" Anybodys shrieked, her hands clenched into fists, "I ain't playing at ANYTHING!"

"You're playing at _something_," A-Rab snarled, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and dragging her to her feet, "Goddamit Anybodys, just tell me what's going on and…."

"Like you care," Anybodys hissed, tears still streaming down her face.

"Why the hell d'you want those knives?"

"It's _personal_! I _need_ 'em A-Rab, it isn't a question of _wanting_ 'em?"

"Well, watcha _want_ 'em for then?"

"I'm tellin' ya, you don't need to know! It's none of your business!"

"It is if someone's hurtin' ya….!"

"Don't trouble yourself A-Rab!" Anybody spat, "You'd only end up laughing at me, as usual!"

"Listen to me, you little…"

"No, you listen!"

There was the unmistakeable thud of a foot on the stairs.

Anybodys moaned and went limp. He couldn't be here. Not now. Not when A-Rab…..she had to get him out.

"A-Rab, you gotta get out, and I mean now," She muttered.

"Why?" A-Rab demanded, "Who's that?"

Anybodys blanched. She needed to act. And quickly.

"My old man," She lied, "Yeah, he has certain rules about boys in the bedroom, bathroom, or anywhere else on the premises….go out the fire escape."

A-Rab moved slowly towards the window, "Anybodys…"

"Out! NOW!" The girl practically shoved him out the window, "Get outta here!"

As soon as he was down the stairs, she faced the bathroom door. There was still time enough to run, if….

"Melody."

She froze. Instantly. No-one else in the world called her that. It wasn't even like Him to call her that. He must have been in a good mood.

"Come out here."

She took a deep, acid-filled breath, and stepped out of the bath.


End file.
